Princess Royal

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This article is about British Royal title. For the class of steam locomotive, see Princess Royal Class. For Royal Navy ships, see HMS Princess Royal.

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HRH The Princess Anne

Princess Royal is a style customarily (but not automatically) awarded by a British monarch to his or her eldest daughter. The style is held for life, so a princess cannot be given the style during the lifetime of another Princess Royal (in particular, Queen Elizabeth II never held the title as her Aunt Princess Mary was in possesion of the title). There have been seven Princesses Royal in total. [1] Currently Princess Anne is the Princess Royal.

This title came into existence when Queen Henrietta Maria (1609-1669), daughter of Henry IV, King of France, and royal consort of King Charles I (1600-1649), wanted to imitate the way the eldest daughter of the King of France was styled "Madame Royale." The style is granted by Royal Warrant not created by Letters Patent. It is not automatically given to the eldest daughter, but is conferred at the discretion of the reigning sovereign.

Princess Mary (later Queen Mary II of England) (1662-1694), eldest daughter of King James II and wife of William III, Prince of Orange and King of England (1650-1702), and Princess Sophia Dorothea (1687-1757), only daughter of King George I and wife of Frederick William I, King in Prussia (1688-1740) were eligible for this honour but did not receive it.

List of Princesses Royal

The following is a complete list of women officially styled as "Princess Royal":

1642-1660 − Princess Mary (1631 - 1660): eldest daughter of King Charles I; wife of William II, Prince of Orange (1626 - 1650)
1727-1759 − Princess Anne (1709 - 1759): eldest daughter of King George II; wife of William IV, Prince of Orange (1711 - 1751)
1789-1828 − Princess Charlotte (1766 - 1828): eldest daughter of King George III; wife of Frederick I, King of Württemberg (1754 - 1816)
1841-1901 − Princess Victoria (1840 - 1901): eldest daughter of Queen Victoria; wife of Frederick III, King of Prussia and German Emperor (1831 - 1888)
1905-1931 − Princess Louise (1867 - 1931): eldest daughter of King Edward VII; wife of Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife (1849 - 1912)
1932-1965 − Princess Mary (1897 - 1965): only daughter of King George V; wife of Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood (1882 - 1947)
1987 − Princess Anne (born 1950): only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II; wife firstly of Mark Phillips (born 1948) and secondly of Timothy Laurence (born 1955)

- Princess Louisa Maria (1692-1712), the last daughter of King James II, born after he lost his crown in the Glorious Revolution, was given the title of Princess Royal during James's exile at Saint-Germain-en-Laye and was so called by Jacobites.